it's a night on our t.v. with all the acronyms coming out of congress these days from so budget but even sista line freedom seems to be taking one blow after another but fear not a large man has a plan to protect your online privacy that's a lot easier than you might think and the current administration wants to keep. it right because it really is. and in the past americans have rigorously hunted down and punish those who use torture but now the issues on the other foot it seems the justice department is willing to let a few of those cases fall through the cracks like all but two but what's with the

double standard will explore. and the environmental protection agency is once again ruffling feathers this time it's taking on the hydraulic fracturing industry telling companies to clean up their act or close shop we'll tell you about the latest tussle over fracking. it's tuesday april seventeenth eight pm here in washington d.c. i'm liz of all in you're watching our t.v. . well it's an internet provider that puts your privacy first sound like a dream while someone wants to make it a reality his name is nicholas marilyn he's able to build a telecommunications company that shields customers from surveillance and he wants to take it a step further and challenge the government if they ask for the information he ran a new york based internet provider and saw everything that went down behind the

scenes so he is well aware of how easily your personal information is out for grabs and he joined us earlier today to tell us more about fairness. the essence of the idea i'm trying to redesign how the telecommunications industry works and what i want to do is change that basic paradigm and one where it's completely transparent and one where it's more opaque by using a technique called encryption to basically scramble the user's data and essentially return the ownership of the data to the individual and so that the telecommunications provider doesn't have constant visibility into what people are doing on the internet and what people are saying on the telephone i know what inspired you to come up with that idea. basically it came i got the inspiration from. an experience that i had when i ran an internet provider in new

york city were and so on. and what happened was i was approached by the authorities and. they tried to force me to provide a lot of data about one of the customers of my company. instead of the usual. way that's done which is by going through the court system and they used a technique from the usa patriot act. and it's known as a national security letter. and basically what that means is in a way if there were days now and since two thousand and one so the most part have the ability to sort of write their own warrants get out showing probable cause and of course now you have ran a telecommunications company and so you know exactly what happens behind the stand how widespread of a problem is that that people that are made have given out. i

mean if you look at the if you sort of take a step back and look at the greater picture. there is there is problems with governments surveillance which is kind of ballooned in the post nine eleven era and then there are also other issues with telecommunications providers and online service providers and data mining the activity of people online and there is basically a huge market for the data which is compiled on the activity that people are nine so. saying about it is that it will mostly unusable to the user you don't really notice it happening but it's actually an incredibly widespread practice and some people think that it's really out of control. and out of bed i mean i was going to my next question based on your experience and seeing how just how much information is request said it has got out of hand. i

mean i think that's a matter of opinion. in my opinion it has. you know and things are worse in some countries and better in some other countries if you look at countries like china where they have this so-called great firewall and everything that done is launched at all times you know it's sort of like the extreme what we've got i mean and america right now is something you know much less grave and but at the same time it's still upsetting when you realize that a lot of a surveillance is in violation of the constitution and. people that i know sometimes have the feeling based type of. consistent violation of the principles upon which the country was founded can tend to sort of rock the

underpinnings of the rule of law from the inside out and not in of itself is it's a very exciting prospect now you have this vision of creating a telecommunications company and waiting across the rise of private parts what kind of feedback have you gotten so far. it's it's been incredible there's been a huge surge of activity on social media particularly on twitter. and on some other sites such as ready. there are literally thousands and thousands of people writing me emails and donating money and we do a. sundries ing a website which i've started a campaign. basically within a day i believe nearly fifty thousand dollars was practically overnight much of it in very small donations like in the five to ten dollars range but what's so

exciting about it to me is badly demonstrates in a very concrete and. how to a way that there is a market for products and services a very strong market that i think is being driven by the knowledge of the deterioration of our privacy and there's a modern world with. automated survey on a while and it certainly seems like there is a lot of interest in this think about how close are you to starting this this project. the biggest missing hurdle at this point is simply a matter of funding and if things continue with my fundraising progress the way it's been going. you know things are looking very. different views and more support. and it's not even so much

a matter of the number of dollars of people here but it's a matter demonstrating that there is a market for privacy and i'm really excited about so i mean in series if i could get enough money someone gave me a lot of money that i need today which would be you know a couple of million dollars. i could have it up and running i think by the end of this year ok well let's say you get the money you're able to launch this company and you put your customers privacy first if i ask you how realistic it's a great idea but how realistic is that i mean if specialist say the f.b.i. or the government demanding that information that they'll be able. to fight back and not the formation of it if it's demand that. i think it's perfectly realistic i mean number one. for the series to get information when the request was in. in compliance with the law so that i'm not

i'm not worried that that's whether that's possible or not that i've got experience with it. and whether or not it's able it's possible to build a service that works the way that i'm talking about i think is absolutely within their own possible fact basically all the tools that you need to perform to start from corruption exists now it's simply a matter redesigning the way in which other communication system works to use you know encryption technology and security technology to the maximum amount possible so we all all i need is a facility and some of the servers and machines and i need some money for staff. and then we're really on the road that's that's all that it's clearly a lot of interest in there and people are probably watching saying that i want to have best as my internet provider is this something that you could do affordably to thank you. absolutely. you know part of the reason why i want to do

this as a nonprofit organization is. i'm not really looking to get rich with those armed. and looking to change the channel communications system worse and i'm looking to try to transform the job and it's very clear in a positive direction surely you are demonstrating in a concrete way that there is more of a demand for more privacy. nicolette that great idea wants to put your privacy apart that was nicholas merrill executive director of the account and here. we turn now to the issue of using torture on terror suspects waterboarding and stress positions just two techniques used by the u.s. against those accused of having ties to terrorism now a secret memo has been leaked which brands them war crimes and shows the bush

administration was warned against their use and also if scouts light on the earth the bush administration's torture policy and artie's marina power and i reports and president obama isn't doing enough to make up for america's past mistakes. america's so-called war on terror produced images and accounts that ignited a lot of questions about torture and the u.s. treatment of suspects american people need to know or using techniques within the law to protect them two years after george w. bush left the white house let's talk about waterboarding the former commander in chief admitted his stamp of approval for the use of interrogation techniques like waterboarding dubbed into humane and illegal under u.s. law and the geneva conventions it's like waterboarding legal in your opinion as a lawyer said it's legal so that the salt in the. courtroom back. into the church has. it says for the people rather than to do it bush

administration also chose to disregard the judgment of a top adviser who warned that the cia's interrogation of terror suspects equal weighted to felony war crimes according to a secret memo obtained by wired magazine in two thousand and six state department councilor philip zelikow warned the white house that controversial interrogation techniques such as water boarding stress positions and cramped confinement are prohibited under u.s. law and under american law there is no precedent for excusing treatment that is intrinsically cruel even if the state asserts compelling need to use it i think there needs to be an accounting in the united states and what was done over the last ten years and name of america there is a crest after the second world war the united states actually executed japanese soldiers who had. used torture. against american prisoners they took action against the japanese when they did the u.s.

has been on record as opposing want to talk to other countries so there is a clear legal case to say that you know action must be taken we're still evaluating two weeks before taking office u.s. president barack obama steered clear of saving america's historic commitments to international justice obviously we're going to be looking at past practices. and don't believe that anybody has problems on the other hand i also have a belief that we need to look for those laws as opposed to the looking backwards last june obama's us justice department dropped in ninety nine out of one hundred one cases against cia interrogators over the use of torture i'm afraid that the current ministration wants to keep those options open they don't want to label these techniques just as crime here torture because that would prohibit them from using them by weaving their legal definition however slight we worry if we can so be option replied miss. and there is what is frightening here scholars attorneys

and human rights experts around the world have called for the prosecution of senior bush administration officials who designed in order to work for tactics however critics say the unspoken agreement within countries proclaiming to pioneer democracy is to never turn on europe to. the west we you know we make great play. but there is a kind of. elite party but they will not press charges and they will not take legal action against crimes of previous administrations through the use of torture rendition and secret prisons america's moral position all around the world as are undoubtedly shifted and while the u.s. will likely continue barking the beacons of freedom and democracy critics say the more important question to ask is who's even listening anymore. artsy new york.

area larry spoke to david swanson campaigner for roots action about the case of john kerry a coup he is a former cia official accused of leaking classified information to the media i asked david if he. was about politics or justice here's his take. certainly the former this is someone being charged the six person being charged under the obama administration under the espionage act but he has not been accused of having sought to endanger the nation having sort of aid in the so-called enemy he's been accused of blowing the whistle on the crime of torture and so he is being prosecuted for something which yes does resemble the original purpose of us you know that nine hundred seventeen which was to prosecute anyone oppose you know war we're discouraging recruitment any time you tell the truth about u.s. foreign policy towards urging recruitments from the u.s. military but that's not how they talk about it it's partly about it's as if he has

endangered national security and yet this is someone who's gotten worse since the these events or a senate foreign relations committee and there's no suggestion that it's been any danger there that he's a traitor to the nation it's all about finding a technicality on which to prosecute someone who has spoken out against a crime now they want to play a part of an interview he did with journalist david leopold truthout areas talking about the case of a detainee by then and of abu zubaida and like he discovered cia officials did it to this suspect this is what they say they needed to do to extract what they call actionable intelligence take a look my view now is now that we know was eighty three times if you have to waterboard somebody eighty three times to collect the information even if the information is correct and section of or it was the wrong thing to do. so this man

he was water boarded as we just eighty three times and we would never learn about this had it not bad for whistleblowers like john kerry aco so and this case does the ads justify the means. well of course not we're talking about torture and the new york times calls it a supposition tactic that excuses that waterboarding is torture the united states has prosecuted it was masterfully and at the end of past wars and this is something that we were first told about by mr heriot and then we later learned that he learns from leaks documents that it was a response but there is no evidence that any useful information was gained from torturing. who still remains locked up in a new u.s. prison with no rights there is no evidence that there's a tradeoff here orchard gains of information that could not be gained without its

order and so we will make it about deletion no this is all negative but the united states outside of the rule of law destroys our records reputation around the world and it encourages torture by other countries which are following the with samples one enormously. the other is david would say that when you work for the n.s.a. or you work for the cia you're dealing with a very classified information and with that when you become when you become employed by these agencies you've taken an oath not to disclose government secrets and the just apartment says that he broke that promise what do you say to that. i say there is a higher oath to uphold the constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic there is an obligation to report on crimes when you are aware of it when you are legally required to make that information known there is an understanding military law that you must use the illegal orders and they are not going after people who

leak information in a consistent manner they are going after people who blow the whistle on crimes this is this is number six and there is a resemblance here to bradley manning a resemblance to thomas drake they are going after whistleblowers which is exactly what candidate barack obama promised not to do. and that was they if it's france and campaign or actually. had an r.t.a. drilling to the core of the issue environmental protection agency had taken on hydraulic fracturing company as has america taps into the next great energy source we'll ask if this is safe academic. r t is the state run english speaking russian channel it's kind of like al-jazeera .

and. russia today has an extremely confrontational stance when it comes to us. what drives the world the fear mongering used by politicians who makes decisions it's time to break through that sort of thing and maybe who can you trust no one. is your view with the oval machinery see where we had a state controlled capitalism it's called session when. nobody dares to pass we do or he questioned more. a battle on capitol hill today over energy the environmental protection agency is set to finish up rules to cut down on pollution from oil and gas drilling under scrutiny is the controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing more commonly known as fracking

environmentalists say the practice leaves a toxic waste of the oil and gas industry say regulators are going overboard earlier i was joined by truthout reporter mike loued wig i asked him if you feel b.p.'s regulations will result in problems associated with fracking here's what he had to say. we've been waiting for some kind of federal regulation of fracking for a long time and what they're coming out with today is only regulations carom missions are going to be putting forth new rules to. the industry to contain and dispose of gases like methane and organic compounds that are released with fracking or it's one of the chemicals in the water that they use to drill for gas that should come back so environmentalist been pushing for federal regulations for a while a lot of people here a lot of water and water problems caused by fracking are contamination you also hear a lot about earthquakes but air contamination is also a problem that u.p.a.

is moving forward on my now so you think there is a lot of. great. natural gas all very relevant. so what's so bad about. what has it is it has been regulated a federal level it's been regulated kind of state to state and the e.p.a. has really stepped in to propose any regulations for a while i mean hydraulic fracturing fracturing has exploded across the country as the new way to get natural gas be it hands they used also very controversial you see earthquakes you see water contamination events the industry denied it for years we now know that it is a fact that have happened and the e.p.a. has been working towards regularly to get the obama administration wants to regulate it but they haven't been able to get it's

a long process to roll that out how do you ministration it is is very supportive of expanding natural gas fracking even on our public lands where they're working also working towards regulating it however as are doing this to working very closely with industry groups that are working very closely with the actual companies that are doing this to roll off these regulations so if they're going to be strong enough to actually make a difference you know that means to be seen. so answer would you agree that the answer that it would be more regulation at that would be accomplished and also holding companies accountable. absolutely i mean you know we have to ask ourselves if we want this it is an important national resource and it does create jobs not always the industry would like to say it does but it does create jobs and it does boost our economy it helps their energy security at the same time without any oversight or regulation expressly on the federal level is companies have been allowed to do pretty much whatever they want and the results of it in some cases to say asterisk just. quake so there's been people who have had to have water

delivered to their homes because their actual wells they trade out of the contaminated with methane so it's time for federal regulators to step in and if we want to use exploit this resource we're going to need that but it's unfortunately a very slow process and environmentalist it pushes a lot of time to get it right but i can. safely. i think it depends on. the science i think all natural gas extraction is going to have some kind of impact that's just a fact of life and it comes natural consequences to denounce it's how much we get the energy and how much should we be to clean it safe. all right mike i want to pull up a map really quickly to give you an idea of exactly where fracking takes place from what we found twenty one states are currently using this method and i should stress that point that exact information on each state it's hard to get but we do know

that two states have a temporary ban on the not that new york and new jersey they banned it to review environmental rules and here is a map of a few for accidents so to speak where reports have surfaced over a poison drinking water polluted air serious animal deaths industrial disasters or exposure or explosions so clearly looking at this now we can see that this industry has seen its fair share of trouble so like if not cracking what is the alternative because we see other problems in terms of drilling environmental concerns in relation to that nuclear energy especially in the wake of fukushima what that would be an alternative. when alternative joe if you're looking at stars and she goes you could be that we have to remember that the fossil fuel industry is a trench in this country it has complete control over the system we're going to

keep pushing to exploit if you will see a crash of gas all other things that no matter how you extract from the grammar how much regulation there is good use straps going to fracking because there hasn't been any federal regulation to any cases because state regulation be seen all these steps you see the earthquakes you see the water contamination how it's dropping dead the fuel gets scary which is part is going on it's backlash and now we have to . i wonder what is going to come out of washington obviously this regime knows that this should be done safely it wants to regulate it and it's taking a lot of time meanwhile there's a gas rush so you know you have to be to remember that factor has been around for forty years the difference now is to use a different technique that used to go straight down into the earth at least the gas now they're going straight down it. through the earth which is one of the reasons why scientists say we've seen something like temptation. now you mentioned earlier mike when the energy solar energy a. palette it as a good alternative forms of energy is that something that really is viable and

would that provide enough that maybe just part of the solution and therefore other . kinds of energy here are necessary. you know it's most of the charge to a lot of environmentalist are pushing for our economy to shift towards those renewable energy energy sources completely they want then they want these alternatives to replace fossil fuels because of the environmental impact of extra time also because concerns about global warming and you know do you see that they could definitely create jobs but you know what i said our industries are in charge also feels. like pleasure to have you on the show that was true reporter likely way thank you so much with. well nasa shuttle dave how officially ended the discovery shuttle made its final flight today on the back of a modified seven four seven jet traveling to its new home at the air and space museum in washington d.c.

here you can see the shuttle flying over the nation's capital spectators gathered in florida virginia maryland and right here in d.c. all in hopes of catching a glimpse of this historic of that they were not left disappointed the plane made a few passes by the national mall before landing in chantilly virginia this better in space shuttle was built in one thousand nine hundred four and as the program's oldest orbiter a travel to the outer reaches of space a total of thirty nine times before retiring from the fleet for many this was a bittersweet moment a reminder of the excitement associated with america's space program. and while the fate of this shuttle is certain the future of nasa is still very much uncertain in recent years but the political will and federal funding for america's space program have waned well nasa budget has been slowly dwindling taking sharp cuts over the past few years a new petition is gaining popularity to double their budget meanwhile for the first

time ever china has launched more rockets into orbit then the u.s. in two thousand and eleven sending one thousand rockets and to space the u.s. said just eighteen and russia launched over thirty one rockets and now private companies are taking over the air space space x. is prepared to become the first private spacecraft to dock with the international space station the company is even boasting that the dragon capsule could take off as early as april thirtieth so is this the future of space exploration only time can tell what's in store for the final frontier. that's going to do it for now from our own stories we covered you could head over to youtube dot com slash artsy america you can also check out our website or to dot com slash usa and you can also follow me on twitter atlas wall the big picture with thom hartmann is coming up in just a half hour for now have a great night.